City Crackdown Looming as the Dog Population Rises

San Francisco now has more dogs than children, and the city is considering new rules to control their activities.Credit
Ramin Rahimian/The Bay Citizen

Call it a sign of the times: At food establishments around San Francisco, fliers are popping up with the words “No Animals Allowed” in bold red letters, and an image of a dog in a circle with a line through it. They are stamped with the official city and county seal.

Sheldon Lew, an inspector for the Department of Public Health, created the eye-catching sign about a year ago after hearing from restaurants and grocery stores about people who were taking in unruly, nonservice dogs — a violation of state law.

“They wanted something from the health department,” Mr. Lew said

The fliers, which Mr. Lew said were not a required posting, have become increasingly popular with food establishments, an indication of rising tensions over the city’s swelling dog population.

Indeed, the number of canines, at least 120,000, is now greater than the number of children, whose ranks dropped to 107,000 from 112,000 in the past decade, according to 2010 census figures.

Currently, new rules are being considered that could put dogs on a tighter leash — affecting where they play, how they are cared for and where they live.

¶ The Land Use and Economic Development Committee of the Board of Supervisors will consider legislation next week to regulate professional dog walkers, an industry that has flourished in the dog boom, but has also drawn complaints for damage to parks, where packs of dogs are routinely unleashed.

¶ Proposals are expected to move forward in 2012 for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area — national park land within the city that includes Crissy Field, Fort Funston and Ocean Beach — that would greatly reduce off-leash play areas, because of dogs’ impact on natural habitats and species.

¶ A similar plan by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department to protect “natural areas” in city parks is also moving ahead, which could reduce existing off-leash dog play acreage by 14 percent or more.

¶ And in the city’s suddenly tight apartment market, rentals that allow dogs have become increasingly rare. As a result, advocates for pets are expected to lobby city leaders next year to change rental laws to remove illegal pet ownership as a “just cause” for eviction — essentially allowing renters to defy leases and have dogs, even if they signed contracts agreeing not to. Landlords would most likely fight such a change.

An estimated one-third of San Francisco households now have dogs, which means two-thirds of households don’t. By all accounts, the city is undergoing a period of adjustment as it tries to accommodate both groups.

“What happens with social change is that you experience a backlash,” said Sally Stephens, chairwoman of San Francisco Dog Owners Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates for responsible dog ownership. “There are people who don’t understand the place that dogs have in our community.”

Ms. Stephens said that because so many San Francisco residents are new arrivals, and often single, dogs had become a powerful bonding force for people who might otherwise be lonely. “The dog park is an amazing way to connect with people,” she said.

When I recounted a recent incident I saw of a dog eating food off shelves in Safeway as its owner idly watched, she agreed that such episodes had been a source of animosity toward dogs. However, she considered these problems rare.

But many of the impending conflicts, especially those involving parks, show that the increase in dog ownership has clashed with one of the city’s most highly prized tenets: appreciation for the natural environment. Efforts to preserve indigenous habitats and species go back decades, predating the current dog craze.

But even as the city rolls out environmental plans that call for reducing some off-leash play areas in city parks, it also seems willing to accommodate its canine residents. Dog play areas will be added in new places like Rincon Hill, a once-desolate part of SoMa that has been newly developed as a residential area (as people arrived, so did their dogs).

It is an indication, despite the growing signs of a pushing back, that dogs ultimately still have plenty of clout here.

“The dog community is an economic factor in this city,” Mr. Wolfe said. “You don’t see pet shops closing.”

Scott James is an Emmy-winning television journalist and novelist who lives in San Francisco. sjames@baycitizen.org

A version of this article appears in print on December 9, 2011, on page A29A of the National edition with the headline: City Crackdown Looming As the Dog Population Rises. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe